


the name of the genius

by juggyjones



Series: in this universe, we're fighters [2]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: 5x04, Canon Compliant, Confident Zeke, Diyoza The Shipper, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, McCreary The Asshole, What Happened To Raven Since We Last Saw Her, Zeke Is Heart Eyes, Zeke Is Into Intelligent Hot Latinas, i think, raven the genius
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-19 01:46:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14864303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juggyjones/pseuds/juggyjones
Summary: Raven and Zeke get to know each other while they wait for further instructions from Diyoza, after Zeke gave away the access to the missiles.





	the name of the genius

**Author's Note:**

> this was written for a tumblr propmt. if you have any, feel free to send them in to my tumblr, @little-bird-reyes. enjoy!

When Murphy leaves— _escapes_ , Zeke reminds himself,  _he escaped—_ and Zeke breaks the news, and launches the missiles, and that’s all he has to do.

When McCreary offers to reclaim his place as Raven’s caretaker, Zeke jumps in without a second thought. It’s a little shuffle and Diyoza lets both of them know they should act like the grown men they are.

“He’s not one of us,” McCreary reminds her.

He doesn’t hear Zeke mutter  _‘thankfully’_  under his breath.

Instead of replying to McCreary, Diyoza grabs one of the pistols from the table and throws it at Zeke. Her face is steel and the scar on her throat shimmers under the lightning of electronics, and Zeke reminds himself that she’s the real danger here, not McCreary.

She nods at him. “Take care of our little prisoner. Maybe you even learn something.”

For a moment, Zeke thinks it might be a jab at him calling the prisoner a ‘genius’ only days prior. His gaze drops to the black, military-grade pistol in his hands and he realizes she meant that as in learning possible locations of their enemies.

“Will do.”

McCreary gives him a side-eye that Zeke ignores. Once he’s inside the cell where they’re keeping the girl, he unloads the pistol and puts it in the back of his pants.

“Hi.”

At first, she pretends to be sleeping. Her body is sprawled across a small bed with only a thin, uncomfortable mattress between her and the metal. It’s a cell, not unlike the ones Zeke used to see in the movies — empty, dull and claustrophobic, with no personality or anything.

And metallic bars separating the prisoner from the visitor.

Checking no one’s around— _why would they be_ , he reminds himself,  _they only have one prisoner, and no one cares about her—_ he takes a key out of his pocket and inserts it into the lock on one of the bars.

“You know,” he says, “back when I was on this planet, over a century ago, we used to do this with no electricity. It was just – you have a key, insert it into a lock, and the prisoner’s free.”

The bars move apart, gliding into the walls. All that’s keeping the girl from running is a remote control in Zeke’s hand that connects to the metallic ring around her neck.

She opens her eyes. “That sounds like a dumb way to keep someone in place.”

“Well, yeah.” He raises the remote control. “That’s why we evolved.”

Without saying anything else, the girl raises herself into a sitting position, resting her back against the cold wall. Her dark eyes trail to the lack of bars and he can see it, right there and then – she’s making a plan.

He hopes he’s done enough to have her consider not killing him, perhaps. She looks dangerous and with that mind of hers, he isn’t doubtful she could come up with a decent plan.

Unless she’s waiting for something.

Or someone.

Zeke runs a hand through his hair, feeling it beginning to grow again. It’s been almost a century since he’d grown hair. That thought itself is… hilarious and concerning at the same time, somehow.

“So,” he says, “what’s your story?”

She cocks an eyebrow at him, looking all serious, and Zeke realizes she’s younger than he expected her to be. Judging by her expertise, he’d put her education far ahead of his own. She might be only a year or two younger, but he’s already— _was_ , he reminds himself—one of the best of his generations.

And now she’s there. Looking all …

Zeke tries to find some words to say, but he can’t find any that don’t make him feel the same as he did when he realized she’s beaten him at his own game.

Damn, he might just be into girls more intelligent than him.

“What’s my story?” she asks. When she’s not being electrocuted or begging for her friend’s life, her voice is raspier than expected, with a hint of sass. “How about we hear  _your_ story, Lieutenant Shaw?”

“Fine,” he says. “I was born Miles Ezekiel Shaw, in Brooklyn. That’s… not actually very far from here. But anyway, I was the youngest of five, so I got to play with my brothers’ computers and fix their destroyed stuff and I had a beautiful,  _astonishing_ Harley Davidson—”

“A Harley? An actual, real-life Harley Davidson motorcycle?”

The astonished— _and impressed_ , he realizes—look on his face brings a smile to his own. “Yeah. She was a real beauty.”

“Holy shit,” she says. “I’ve always wanted a Harley.”

“You didn’t have those? On your ship?”

“The Ark?” She scoffs. “Necessities only.”

“Same for us. No fun allowed. My Harley’s destroyed now, even though I put her in one of my brothers’ care.”

He sees wheels turning in her head. It’s an interesting sight, because her eyes never leave his yet he feels like she’s scanning him, up and down. If she’s half as smart as he thinks she is, she must’ve figured out exactly what it would take to dismantle both the controller and her necklace.

He finally enters the cell, sitting on a bed that used to be the other guy’s. They were lucky – he managed to warn his people.

“They survived, from what we can tell.”

Zeke sees her chest drop and realizes she was waiting for him to talk about it this entire time. For that, he grants her a small smile.

She smiles back, for a moment. Then coughs, frowns and composes herself, back to a poker face. “Thank you. For telling me.”

“You’re welcome.”

He watches her for a while and she avoids his eyes. He sees her counting the steps between her bed and the end of the cell, between her and freedom. His finger hovers over the button on the controller and he knows her eyes catch that, too.

Then he puts it away.

“Look, I want to be able to trust you. I’m not one of them.”

She laughs. It’s more of a short ‘ha!’ than a laugh, and he doesn’t want to admit it, but it does hurt a little. “That’s what they all say.”

“I’m putting my life on the line here. You may be self-righteous, but my life matters to me a lot.”

“And you’re not self-righteous?” she asks, tilting her head. He notices her ponytail is a wreck, half of her hair falling out of it, and wonders why she hasn’t fixed it more than he wonders about her words. “You risked your oh-so-precious life to get Murphy out.”

  _Murphy_ , he makes a mental note.

“You risked your life because you didn’t think they should kill those people. Because you don’t want a war.”

“It’s the last survivable place on the entire planet,” he snaps. “No one wants a war!”

At first, she doesn’t say anything. She watches him with more certainty and force than he thought was possible, eyes intense when they meet his.

He thinks she can see the intelligence in her eyes. They’re dark but crystal clear, even after all the torture she’s endured, and he realizes it might not be her first time.

She’s strong. McCreary could’ve tortured her for as long as he wanted without getting the other guy—Murphy—in and she wouldn’t have talked, even if she had the info.

  _Damn._

“It’s Raven,” she says. “My name. I was born on the Ark and I’m the best mechanic on the planet.”

She smirks a little at the end and Zeke asks himself if he’s crazy, imagining a challenge in the soft curve of her lips. His own lips mimic hers.

“In that case, nice to meet you, Raven. I’m Zeke.”

“Thought you were Miles?”

“Eh,” he says, “I’ve always preferred Zeke.”

That part he keeps to himself, but he has never preferred Zeke over Miles. It’s only that Miles was a boy who dreamed of outer space and flying a ship, Miles was the boy who became a man in space, Miles was the man who thought no one could beat him at his own game, and he isn’t Miles anymore.

“Nice to meet you, Zeke,” she says, the smirk still hanging in the corners of her lips. “Thanks for saving my friends.”

He nods and leaves with a quick goodbye, telling Diyoza he’s only managed to learn the guy’s name and that she wouldn’t cooperate at the moment. He relaxes when Diyoza doesn’t doubt his words and doesn’t order McCreary to look after her, and Zeke promises to try again in an hour or so, says he’s building trust.

Diyoza believes him. He’s gaining Raven’s trust and she seems like a powerful ally to have, or at least someone he can have decent, intellectual conversations with – he’s had enough of the murderers around him.

So when he goes back to his post, his mind still goes back to her smirk, to the challenge she gave him. And for the frst time since he decided to join this dooming mission, he feels pumped, energized, ready to do whatever it takes to save the human race.

Zeke Shaw feels  _alive._

And all because of a girl.

  _A damn brilliant, impressive, challenging,_ he reminds himself, _genius of a hot girl_.

Zeke Shaw goes back to work with a smile on his face, counting down minutes until he can go talk to her again.


End file.
